Southwest launches movie-on-demand service for digital devices

Skift Take

Airlines are dreaming of the day when they can ditch the complicated, heavy, and expensive seat-back entertainment systems for profit-generating bring-your-own-device systems.

— Rafat Ali

Earlier this year Southwest announced its intention to add movies-on-demand to all Wi-Fi-equipped aircraft and now it has. The service is now available for $5 per movie, per device.

The airline also announced an upgrade to its live-TV-on-digital-device package, which it launched last year. Now in addition to eight channels of live news and sports, customers can also select on-demand episodes of popular TV shows. The upgraded TV package is $5 a day, per device.

Wi-Fi service itself can be purchased for $8 a day, per device including stops and connections. Customers do not need to purchase Wi-Fi separately in order to access movies or TV.

American Airlines has offered in-flight streaming since early 2012, but only recently made streaming to iPads and other tablets possible. American also allows you to watch the remainder of any film after your flight has landed.